Cardboard Trebuchet Experience

In order to prepare ourselves for building a giant trebuchet, teams were instructed to build a miniature cardboard trebuchet. With this cardboard trebuchet, we were able to identify some principles of physics such as projection, trajectory, and gravity.  Some environmental factors that effect the performance of our trebuchet could be air resistance and gravity. We are unable to change these factors. However, there are some performance factors that can be adjusted to improve the performance of our trebuchet, these are length of throwing arm, mass of counterweight, and angle of release.

Below is a photo of a life sized trebuchet. It's scary to think about the damage this thing could do!